Felix had been looking forward to this morning.
There was still so much of the new forest he hadn’t explored, and today he intended to fix that.
He grabbed his backpack, stepped outside, and called to his friends.
“Come on! We’re going exploring!”
Benny Beaver looked up from the stick he was chewing.
“Where are we going?”
Felix smiled.
“Everywhere.”
Oliver the Owl, perched on a branch above them, tilted his head.
“Everywhere is a rather ambitious destination.”
Felix ignored him.
Before long, Felix, Benny, Rosie Raccoon, and Oliver reached a large wooden signpost at the edge of the forest.
And Felix stopped.
There were signs pointing in every direction.
Opportunity Creek.
Traffic Trail.
Content Mountain.
Community Hollow.
Email Woods.
Product Path.
Brand Building Bluff.
Automation Alley.
Skill Stream.
And one particularly shiny-looking sign pointing downhill:
Easy Money Falls.
Felix’s eyes grew wide.
“Wow.”
Benny scratched his head. “Which one are we taking?”
Felix studied the signs.
“Opportunity Creek sounds good.”
So off they went.
They hadn’t traveled very far when Felix stopped.
“Wait. Maybe we should do Traffic Trail first. If we find some traffic, we can tell everybody else what we discovered.”
So they turned around and headed toward Traffic Trail.
Ten minutes later, Felix stopped again.
“Hold on. Content Mountain! We probably need some good content before we worry about traffic.”
Rosie looked at Benny.
Benny looked at Rosie.
Oliver said nothing.
They turned around again.
They made it halfway to Content Mountain when Felix spotted the sign for Automation Alley.
“Now THAT sounds smart,” Felix said. “Why walk all over the forest ourselves if we can automate it?”
Another change of direction.
By lunchtime, they had started down six different trails.
They had finished exactly none of them.
Felix dropped his backpack beside a tree and sat down.
“This forest is exhausting.”
Benny sat beside him.
“My feet hurt.”
Rosie sighed. “I think we’ve passed that same mushroom four times.”
Everyone looked at Oliver.
The owl had barely moved all morning.
He was sitting comfortably on a low branch near the original signpost.
Felix frowned.
“Aren’t you coming with us?”
“I’ve been waiting for you to decide where we’re going.”
“I’ve been trying!” Felix said. “There are too many good choices.”
Oliver nodded.
“That does appear to be the problem.”
Felix looked back at all the signs.
“What if I choose the wrong trail?”
Oliver stretched his wings.
“Then you’ll learn something about that trail.”
“But what if another one is better?”
“It might be.”
Felix stared at him.
“You’re not being very helpful.”
Oliver smiled.
“The forest will still be here tomorrow, Felix. You don’t have to explore all of it today.”
Felix looked at the signs again.
For the first time that morning, he didn’t look for the most exciting one.
He simply chose one.
“Opportunity Creek.”
Benny stood up. “Are we sure?”
“Nope.”
Rosie laughed. “What about Traffic Trail?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Content Mountain?”
“Another day.”
Benny pointed toward the shiny sign downhill.
“What about Easy Money Falls?”
Felix stared at it for a moment.
“I’m starting to think that one might be a tourist trap.”
Oliver chuckled.
This time, when they started walking, Felix didn’t turn around.
They passed another trail.
Felix kept walking.
They heard laughter coming from somewhere off to their right.
Felix kept walking.
They even passed a little sign that said SECRET SHORTCUT.
Felix hesitated.
Rosie raised an eyebrow.
Felix kept walking.
Eventually, the trees opened and they heard rushing water ahead.
They had made it.
Opportunity Creek sparkled in the afternoon sunlight.
Benny immediately jumped in.
Rosie found a comfortable spot beside the water.
Oliver landed on a nearby branch.
Felix sat on a rock and looked back toward the trail they had just traveled.
It hadn’t been the shortest trail.
It hadn’t been the easiest.
And Felix still had no idea what was waiting on all those other paths.
But for the first time all day, they had actually arrived somewhere.
Benny splashed Felix.
“So, Felix…”
“Yeah?”
“How do you know this was the right trail?”
Felix thought about it for a moment.
Then he grinned.
“I don’t.”
He stood up and jumped into the creek.
“But I’ll never find out if I don’t walk it.”
From the Forest
Sometimes the problem isn’t finding an opportunity. It’s choosing one long enough to discover where it can take you.
There will always be another program, another tool, another traffic source, and another shiny sign pointing toward something new.
Pick a trail.
Give it a fair walk.
You can explore the rest of the forest tomorrow.